Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs. Anything else belongs to whoever it belongs to. ^__^
A/N: 13 reviews? You guys are amazing! :D Glad everyone liked the beginning, ha. So, yeah, I'm just setting the story up still. I'll be putting up pictures of Taylor and Alice (Charity's friends, who you will meet in this chapter) in my profile in just a few minutes, so be sure to check them out. Yeah... that's about it. Hope y'all enjoy. ;)
Although all my past still haunted me, I spent most of my time trying to avoid it and worked crazy shifts at the diner, working with Taylor. If I was busy, I couldn't think about Shannon and everyone else. Of course, my manager Ted did not mind my hours, but it annoyed Taylor and Alice who were constantly trying to get me to go out with them. A few years older than me, they spent nights out in clubs, hooking up with random guys.
Even if I wasn't running away from my past, that was not me. Being raised by my crazy, overprotective mother had given me enough worry to not go to clubs and bars, her constant voice reminding me of STDs and horny men.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Taylor asked while she cleaned a table one night. She smiled at me while I stood behind a counter, staring out at the darkness. Café Royale (yes that was the real name of the diner) was hardly busy late at night so we worked doing nothing for hours, waiting to close at ten.
"I'm sure, Tay," I replied probably for the tenth time that night. She groaned at me, throwing her dish rag at my head, only connecting with just my shoulder.
Taylor was one of those pretty girls you'd be jealous of in high school. She had dark, dark brown hair and hazel eyes that fit her personality perfectly. She was loud and mysterious (an odd combination, yes), always having that smoldering look in her eyes. Guys that came into the diner were instantly awed and often stared. Like any girl like that, she didn't even notice usually. She just went on in her bubbly and bouncy personality, gushing about all the hot guys she saw in the world. (Her newest obsession? Robert Pattinson).
"You're never any fun," she complained to me, leaning against the counter and looking up to pout in my direction.
"Partying is not my scene," I reminded her with a sigh. "Plus, I'm not even of age to drink."
She giggled. "So? Do you know how many girls younger than you work those clubs like they're my age? You'd hardly be the youngest there."
Shaking my head, I rearranged the salt and pepper shakers on the counter for the fourth time that night. "I wasn't raised like that. I follow the rules, Tay."
She sighed, leaning on me with a wide grin. "I know… which is why you suck. Such a pretty girl and doesn't take advantage of it." I could say the same for you, I thought with a little grin of my own. "You never have any fun," she repeated. "Can't you just come out with Alice and me once?" she whined, toying with her apron.
"NO!' I said with a laugh while she gave the puppy dog eyes. And as if it were fated, Alice walked in then, fully decked out in her clubbing outfit. A short (so short my mother would have fainted) mini-skirt and a tight fitting tank top incased her blonde body, her brown eyes glistening.
"Let me guess," Alice said with a grin. "She turned us down again."
Taylor nodded glumly. "No fun."
I smiled at their pouting and pretended I had work to do. Just looking at Alice in her outfit made me miss home and how much my mother would be panicking if she saw someone in an outfit like that. Sometimes I wondered if she was born in the eighteen hundreds with the way she acted. Even so, I missed her sharp eye so much.
"I have fun," I corrected her with a sigh, leaning my body against the counter.
Alice shook her head, blonde, flippy tresses moving swiftly with her. "Yeah, sure. You haven't come out once with us since you came here. You come to work and then disappear. Do you even know your way around the city?" she asked in an accusing tone.
I slumped farther back because I did not. The grocery store was ever-so close to my apartment and the diner was only two blocks away, so I didn't really need to have an adventure around the windy city of Chicago.
My red face made Taylor shake her head in pity. "Come on, Charity. Do something with us."
I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm not going clubbing with you guys."
Alice's eyes lit up then. "Alright, fine. How about this, then. You come shopping with us tomorrow. We'll pick you up some clothes," she said, eyeing my distressed jeans and over-worn t-shirt, "and we'll just have a girl's day. You'll see what Chicago really holds."
Quickly, my mind filled with ways to get out of the idea. "You guys are going to be hung-over," I objected fretfully, trying to think of any way to stop my twenty-two year old friends from dragging me out of my own self-pity.
Taylor laughed loudly then, slapping my shoulder. "You're hilarious, Charity."
Alice smiled too, and replied, "She's right. So, you live on Chestnut, right? We'll pick you up at two-thirty and make sure you wear your comfortable shoes!"
Before I could protest, Alice ran out, yelling something about "coming back before Taylor's shift ended." As she scrolled away, just barely not displaying everything she owned, I glared at Taylor. "I hate you."
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